Ron Paul

From Conservapedia

Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul (born August 20, 1935) is a conservativelibertarianRepublican 10th-term congressman, a former Air Force Flight Surgeon, a physician (M.D.) a candidate for the Republican Party's nomination in 2008 and 2012, and actor.[1] He is from the U.S. state of Texas. As a Republican, he has represented Texas's 14th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997, and had previously served as the representative from Texas's 22nd district in 1976 and from 1979 to 1985. He retired from Congress at the end of 2012.

In 2009 he has attracted over 300 votes for his bipartisan proposal to subject the Federal Reserve to unprecedented scrutiny by allowing the Government Accountability Office to audit all central bank operations, including its decisions on interest rates, lending to individual banks and transactions with foreign central banks. He has a separate bill to abolish the Fed altogether. (He is the lone sponsor.)

Ron Paul is an outspoken critic of neoconservatives and their interventionist foreign policy.

In Congress he has proposed doing away with personal income taxes, federal antitrust laws and the minimum wage. He advocated pulling the United States out of the United Nations, NATO and the International Monetary Fund.

Ron Paul advocates letting states decide how to handle social issues. He supports anti-federalism and therefore wants to leave the issues of same-sex marriage, abortion, and other social issues up to the decision of individual states. Dr. Paul has consistently espoused the pro-life position.

Paul will make his acting debut in the third installment of the Atlas Shrugged film series titled "Who is John Galt?"

Paleolibertarian

Paul is a pro-life states' rights libertarian, also known as a paleolibertarian. Paleolibertarians advocate a limited role of government as well as supporting low taxes, free markets, strict construction of the U.S. Constitution, and a return to monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency. He has earned the nickname "Dr. No" for voting against any bill he believes violates the Constitution. In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Paul is the "one exception to the Gang of 535" on Capitol Hill. He has never voted to raise taxes or congressional pay. He has always voted against the USA PATRIOT Act, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and the Iraq War.

Congressional record

Ron Paul is noted for his authorship of the We the People Act, an act which removed the ability of the US Supreme Court to hear cases involving discrimination based on sexual orientation or religion. He is also noted for submitting several bills banning abortion, and somewhat controversially was the only person to oppose the Darfur Divestment Act of 2007, a bill which disallowed the US government, corporations, and individuals from sending money to or doing business with the janjaweed rebel group of the Sudan.

Political affiliations and support

Although a Republican, Paul remains on good terms with the Libertarian Party and addressed its national convention as recently as 2004.[4]

Paul served as the honorary chairman of and is a current member of the Republican Liberty Caucus, a political action organization dedicated to promoting the ideals of individual rights, limited government and free enterprise within the Republican Party.[5]

Unlike many political candidates, Paul receives the overwhelming majority of his campaign contributions (96.8% in 2005-2006), from individuals. [6]

He voted against the Iraq War in 2002 and has offered alternatives such as granting the President authority to grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and arming pilots. He is the only Republican presidential candidate to have voted against the Iraq War.

Paul's desire to secure U.S. borders remains a key topic in his 2008 presidential campaign. He opposes the North American Union proposition and its proposed integration of Mexico, the United States of America, and Canada. Paul voted "yes" on the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which authorizes the construction of an additional 700 miles of double-layered fencing between the U.S and Mexico. Paul opposes illegal immigration as well as amnesty for illegal immigrants.

In the May 3, 2007 GOP Debate, Ron Paul stated that as President, he would seek the immediate abolition of the IRS and the abolition of the income tax. As Congressman, he has long fought for the prohibition of direct taxes by repeal of the 16th Amendment which created the income tax. Ron Paul supports a return to the gold standard of currency particularly newer theorized pure strain gold.

On March 5, 2008, Ron Paul was the only member of the house to vote against a bill "Condemning the ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, and for other purposes"[8][9]

Why did the US intervene in a civil war in a country that has neither attacked us nor poses a threat? We are told this was another humanitarian intervention, like Clinton’s 1999 war against Serbia. But as civilian victims of the US-led coalition bombing continue to add up, it is getting difficult to determine whether the problem we are creating on the ground is worse than the one we were trying to solve. [1]

Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA’s Bin Laden unit, explained in a recent article that there is plausible reason to believe the rebels are current or former Islamist mujahedin, eager to engage in jihad. Indeed, Gaddafi has fought against Libyan Islamists for years and is seen by them as a bitter enemy. Astoundingly, it may well be that we are assisting Al-Qaeda in this new war! Ibidem

2008 Presidential Campaign

Paul formally declared his candidacy for the 2008 Presidential election on 12 March, 2007 as a guest on Washington Journal on C-SPAN.[12][13]. In regards to his candidacy, he had a 30-minute interview with online political analyst James Kotecki regarding foreign policy, Congress and the Constitution, and personal liberties. [14]

Paul participated (along with nine other Republican presidential candidates) in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library's 2008 Republican Presidential Candidates Debate on May 3, 2007. Ron Paul finished first in the MSNBC poll following the GOP primary debate with 43 percent -- beating second place Mitt Romney by 5 percentage points.[2]

Paul seemed to have dropped slightly in the polls that followed the second Republican debate in Columbia, South Carolina, to 25 percent. This was probably as a result of his suggestion that weekly bombing of Iraq following Operation Desert Fox in December 1998 may have contributed sufficiently to Arab anger at the United States as to make the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks inevitable. Paul was excoriated by Rudy Giuliani, who said that this was the most bizarre explanation for the attacks he had ever heard. Other Republican commentators sought to explain Paul's continued strength in post-debate polls as the result of multiple votes by his supporters or voting by non-Republicans. In response to Rudy Giuliani, the next day at the National Press Club, Ron Paul offered Rudy a book list to read regarding the issue of American foreign policy. These books are Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer, Dying to Win by Robert Pape, Blowback by Chalmers Johnson, and The 9-11 Commission Report by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks.

Eric Dondero, a former Ron Paul staffer, declared himself a candidate against Paul in the 2008 Republican primary election to represent the 14th District of Texas in Congress. Dondero (called "Dumbdero" by libertarians) dropped out shortly thereafter. Considering the trouncing Paul ended up giving to Chris Peden in the 2008 Republican congressional primary, it was likely for the better.

Paul has garnered large amounts of support from activists, particularly on the Internet. Many have come up with creative ways to campaign for their candidate. For example, some Paul supporters, who are not officially affiliated with his campaign, purchased a blimp to fly overhead with the phrases "Who is Ron Paul? Google Ron Paul" and "Ron Paul Revolution". [15] The neo-Nazi organization Stormfront also provided widgets on its internet site to enable people to electronically donate cash to Paul's campaign. Stormfront's founder, former Ku Klux Klan member Don Black, also gave financial support to Paul's campaign.[16]

Possible Campaign censorship by the Media

Fox News has frequently excluded Ron Paul from its programs, even in at least one case removing him from Iowa Straw Poll results. Fox News' results left out Paul (as well as Tom Tancredo), even though they scored 9.1% and 13.7%, respectively.

Straw Poll results

Ron Paul was recently established as the most frequent winner of Straw Poll.

2012 Presidential Campaign

As 2012 approached, there was speculation as to whether Paul would run as a Republican candidate or a third party candidate. This was in the context of a larger struggle within the Republican Party between an emerging Tea Party element and a more moderate Republican establishment. Paul had gained a dedicated following among the Tea Party, idealistic young people and libertarians, and needed to translate that support into an effective Presidential campaign. Paul also had to navigate between the expectations of his supporters, his strategic objectives and the possibilities that the Republican establishment could harm the future career of his son, Senator Rand Paul.

Leading up to the campaign, Paul appeared in the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll. Paul won the poll, defeating Mitt Romney, who had won it the previous three years.[18] Paul also won the 2011 CPAC straw poll with 30 percent of the vote. Following that, he also won the paid, online Arizona Tea Party Patriots straw poll on February 28, 2011 with 49% of the vote.[19]

In February 2011, Paul asked supporters to donate to his Liberty Political Action Committee to fund trips to explore a possible 2012 presidential candidacy.[20] On April 14, 2011, Paul's spokesman, Jesse Benton, announced that Paul had formed a "testing-the-waters" organization, stating, "He remains undecided on what his plans will be, but as a final decision draws closer, his team has put the pieces in place for him to flip a switch and hit the ground running if he decides to run for president."[21] Paul announced the formation of an exploratory committee in Des Moines, Iowa on April 26 aimed at seeking the Republican presidential nomination.[22][23] On May 5, 2011, Paul participated in a debate in Greenville, South Carolina sponsored by Fox News with four other possible Republican candidates.[24]

On May 13, 2011, in Exeter, New Hampshire, Paul announced his decision to seek the Republican nomination in the 2012 election on ABC's Good Morning America program.[25] On July 12, 2011, Paul announced that he will not seek another term as the Representative of Texas's 14th District to focus on his presidential campaign.[26]

Under Republican Party rules, delegates were selected in proportion to the results of state by state primaries. The actual delegates were to be selected at either a Congressional District or state-wide caucus or convention based upon the primary results. (In earlier times, delegates were either chosen by party leaders or awarded on a "winner-take-all" basis to the candidate that received the most votes in a particular state.) Although delegates to the convention were "pledged" to vote for a particular candidate on just the first ballot, the delegate was free to vote for anyone on later ballots and could vote independently on other questions such as the party platform. By organizing people to vote in local caucuses or volunteering to serve as delegates in Congressional district conventions, the Paul campaign was able to elect its supporters as National Convention Delegates even though Mitt Romney had gained more votes in the primary of a particular state.

On May 14, 2012, Paul made a statement on the campaign's website that he would no longer be actively campaigning in remaining state primaries, but would instead continue his presidential bid by seeking to collect delegates at caucuses and state conventions for the Republican National Convention in August 2012.[27] This left Mitt Romney as the only remaining candidate actively participating in the primaries.

In June 2012, a group of 132 Paul supporters filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Republican National Committee and 55 state and territorial Republican party organizations for allegedly coercing delegates to choose Mitt Romney as the party’s presidential nominee. The suit sought to give all delegates the right to vote for Paul on the first ballot, even if they were "pledged" to another candidate.[28] The suit alleged that there had been "a systematic campaign of election fraud at state conventions," employing rigging of voting machines, ballot stuffing, and falsification of ballot totals. The suit further pointed to incidents at state conventions, including acts of violence and changes in procedural rules, allegedly intended to deny participation of Paul supporters in the party decision-making and to prevent votes from being cast for Paul. An attorney representing the plaintiffs said that Paul campaign advisor Doug Wead had supported the decision to sue.[28] Paul told CNN that although the lawsuit was not a part of his campaign’s strategy and that he had not been advising his supporters to sue, he was not going to tell his supporters not to sue, if they had a legitimate argument. “If they’re not following the rules, you have a right to stand up for the rules. I think for the most part these winning caucuses that we've been involved in we have followed the rules. And the other side has at times not followed the rules.”[29] Later that month, a Federal District Court judge dismissed the complaint,[30] but the plaintiffs refiled it and it was pending at the time of the convention.

2012 Republican Convention

Because Romney won on the first ballot, the exact number of Paul delegates will never be known. However, Paul did receive 190 delegate votes at the convention.[31]Because Paul did not gain at least a majority of the delegations of five states, his name was not formally placed into nomination, and he was not scheduled to speak at the convention. Instead, he organized a rally on the Sunday before the Convention at the University of South Florida Sun Dome for his delegates and supporters.[32] Paul declined to endorse Romney - Ryan Republican ticket, saying that he was as yet undecided and leaving open the possibility that he would consider endorsing Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.[33] His delegates sought to include a provision in the Republican Party platform for the auditing of the Federal Reserve.

Ron Paul Quotes

Telephone Hotline

Ron Paul runs a toll-free telephone hotline with a recorded message of conservative commentary. It is updated every Monday. [34]

Criticism

Despite being honest and consistent, many conservatives have problems with some of Ron Paul's views. He is anti-war, anti-Patriot Act, believes the War on Drugs should end, supports legalization of marijuana, supports stem cell research, opposes capital punishment, gave support for the Occupy "movement" (although he supported the Tea Party as well), is against corporate welfare, and is supported by many liberals. On the other hand, he opposes public healthcare, abortion, and welfare so remains popular with libertarians and some conservatives. (Source http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/018652.html)